Pressure transducers are used in a variety of different industries for a variety of different applications. In the medical industry, for instance, pressure transducers are used to monitor bodily fluid pressures before, during, and after medical procedures. Information about bodily fluid pressures, such as blood pressure, can help a health care provider diagnose a condition of the patient. In some applications, the health care provider can also use the bodily fluid pressure information to adjust therapeutic treatments or diagnostic agents being delivered to the patient.
Angiography is one type of medical procedure that is typically performed while monitoring the blood pressure of a patient. Angiography is a procedure used to help diagnose and treat cardiovascular conditions including, for example, abnormalities or restrictions in blood vessels in the heart. During angiography, radiographic contrast media is injected through a catheter into a vein or artery, which then passes to vascular structures in fluid communication with the vein or artery. When X-rays are passed through the region of the body into which the contrast media is injected, the X-rays may be absorbed by the contrast media, providing radiographic images of the desired vascular structure(s).
To monitor the blood pressure of a patient during a medical procedure, such as angiography, the patient may be connected to a pressure transducer positioned outside of the body of the patient. For example, the pressure transducer may be hydraulically coupled to the patient's circulatory system via a catheter introduced inside the body of the patient. The catheter may hydraulically communicate pressure from within the body of the patient to the pressure transducer positioned outside of the body of the patient, which may then convert the hydraulic pressure to electrical signals for analysis, display, storage, etc.
Ensuring that a pressure transducer is properly oriented and positioned relative to a portion of the patient's body during a medical procedure may help ensure that the pressure transducer provides an accurate pressure reading. For example, when a patient is undergoing an angiographic procedure, the pressure transducer may be positioned within the same horizontal plane as the patient's heart. If the pressure transducer is positioned higher or lower than the horizontal plane containing the patient's heart, the weight of the column of fluid hydraulically connecting the pressure transducer to the patient's body may increase or decrease relative to when the pressure transducer is at a desired vertical position. In turn, this additional fluid weight may impact the accuracy of the blood pressure determined by the pressure transducer.
While a medical procedure room may include a permanent fixture for holding and positioning a pressure transducer relative to a patient's body, different size patients may dictate different pressure transducer positions. Further, medical care providers, such as doctors, often have significant amounts of discretion to choose the specific hardware they want to use when performing a medical procedure. In instances in which different medical care providers share a common medical procedure space, each medical care provider may use a different type or brand of pressure transducer when performing procedures.